I^'*7  J 

Sa  r o*  5 


THE  MINISTRANT  CHURCH. 

A 

SERMON 

BEFORE  THE 

AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS 
FOR  FOREIGN  MISSIONS, 

AT  THEIR 

MEETING  IN  SALEM,  MASS. 

OCTOBER  3,  1871, 

BY 

REV.  TRUMAN  M.  POST,  D.  D. 

OF  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI. 


BOSTON: 

PRESS  OF  T.  R.  MARVIN  & SON,  131  CONGRESS  STREET. 

1871. 


American  $oari>  of  Commissioners  for  foreign:  fissions. 


Salem,  Ms.,  October  3, 1871. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Board  be  presented  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Truman  M. 
Post,  for  his  sermon  preached  Tuesday  evening,  and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish 
a copy  for  publication. 

Attest, 

J.  O.  MEANS,  Recording  Secretary. 


SERMON. 


Brethren  and  Fathers  : — 

As  I rise  to  address  you  this  evening,  I feel  oppressed  by  the 
genius  of  the  place.  A scene  presses  on  me  from  what  now 
seems  the  far  past.  On  this  spot,  if  not  within  these  walls, 
nearly  sixty  years  ago,  was  the  ordination  of  the  first  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Board.  Here,  on  February  6th,  1812,  in 
the  presence  of  a vast  and  profoundly  sympathizing  assembly, 
Hall,  Newell,  Judson,  Nott  and  Rice,  were  solemnly  set  apart 
to  the  work  of  Foreign  Missions.  The  actors,  and  most  of  the 
spectators,  have  long  since  passed  to  other  worlds.  But  they 
seem  to  me  gathering  again  to  this  place,  this  hour,  to  inaugu- 
rate your  assembling.  Hovering  over  and  around  us,  seem  to 
my  eye  faces  that  are  not  of  clay.  May  the  words  I shall  utter 
before  you  to-night,  approve  themselves  to  those  on  whose  ears 
are  falling  the  voices  of  eternity. 

I have  selected,  as  presenting  timely  theme  for  the  occasion, 
the  words  of  our  Master  and  Model,  found  in 

MATTHEW  xx.  28. 

THE  SON  OF  MAN  CAME  NOT  TO  BE  MINISTERED  UNTO,  BUT  TO  MINISTER,  AND 
TO  GIVE  HIS  LIFE  A RANSOM  FOR  MANY. 

In  this  and  the  preceding  verses,  Christ’s  example  is  set  forth  as 
the  rule  for  his  disciples.  " Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you 
let  him  be  your  minister,  and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among 
you,  let  him  be  your  servant;  even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a 


4 


ransom  for  many.”  The  proper  import  of  the  word  " minister,” 
is  servant,  and  to  minister  is  to  extend  service  through  kindly 
offices,  beneficent  instruction  and  bestowment, — labors,  suffer- 
ings, sacrifices.  Our  Lord  has  also  taught  us  that  "the  disciple 
is  not  above  his  master,  nor  the  servant  above  his  lord.”  " Who- 
soever will  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up  his 
cross  and  follow  me.”  " Whosoever  will  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it,  but  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  and  the  gospel’s, 
the  same  shall  find  it.”  " He  that  forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath, 
he  cannot  be  my  disciple  : ” and  he  subjoined,  as  his  valediction 
when  he  left  the  world,  " It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive.” 

The  law  of  greatness  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  ministra- 
tion, set  forth  in  God  himself  as  its  prime  archetype,  who  min- 
isters the  universe  to  the  universe;  in  his  Son,  who  ministered 
himself  for  the  ransom  of  many  ; in  the  all-quickening  Spirit, 
who  ministers  life  to  moral  being ; in  the  angelic  orders  who  are 
ever  ministrant  spirits  ; and  in  the  church,  whose  office  it  is,  to 
the  end  of  time,  to  minister  the  lifted-up  Christ  to  the  world,  by 
like  vicarious  suffering  and  sacrifice.  Such  ministry  is  God’s 
charm  of  persuasion,  and  such  the  church’s  law  of  victory  amid 
the  lost  nations. 

We  are  assembled  here,  brethren,  in  this  year  of  grace,  1871, 
in  missionary  convocation,  to  commune  together,  for  the  time, 
on  the  <xreat  problem  of  the  conversion  of  the  world — the  con- 
summation assured  by  prophets,  apostles,  and  the  Son  of  God, 
and  commanded  as  the  object  of  prayer,  to  the  church,  through 
the  ages.  Toward  it  the  centuries  past  have  wrought  under 
divine  rule,  slowly  it  may  seem  to  us,  but  surely  ; and  out  on 
the  deeps,  though  far  off  still  it  seems,  yet  manifestly  in  nearer 
distance,  we  may  descry  the  brightness  of  the  burning  wheels 
of  the  coming  of  the  Lord. 

If  we  look  at  the  present  situation  as  compared  with  the  past, 
we  discover  vast  progress,  vast  preparation,  and  vast  expectation. 
Vast  the  progress  since  the  resurrection  morning.  The  faith  of 
the  crucified  Nazarene  embraces  the  civilized  world.  Christianity 
is  incorporate  with  the  life  and  thought  of  humanity.  It  is 
armed  with  art,  literature,  science,  wealth  and  empire.  It  is  the 


religion  of  the  mightiest  nations.  It  possesses  the  domain  of 
history.  It  is  clearly  the  mightiest  power  on  earth,  at  this  pres- 
ent, and  bearing  within  itself  the  destinies  of  the  future. 

In  regard  to  missionary  enterprise,  compared  with  past  times 
the  field  is  clear ; the  world  is  open  and  explored.  Mundane 
agencies,  political  and  social,  empires  and  systems — with  their 
changes,  wars,  migrations,  conquests,  colonizations — have  been 
working  their  preparation.  Commerce,  adventure,  travel  and 
ambition  have  been  pioneering  the  way.  Science,  art,  letters, 
culture,  and  the  forces  of  civilization  have  been  wrought  into 
auxiliaries.  The  enfranchisement  of  nations,  the  liberation  of 
minds,  the  spread  of  general  ideas,  and  the  advancement  toward 
a world-unity  in  the  realm  of  thought,  are  elaborating  a capacity 
for  a universal  spiritual  reign. 

Within  the  sphere  of  the  church,  also,  vast  preparations  have 
been  in  progress.  Missionary  consciousness  and  enterprise  have 
been  aroused  and  enlightened  ; missionary  agencies  instituted, 
organized  and  systematized,  and  applied  extensively  to  the  strong- 
holds of  heathen  religion  and  empire.  Christian  truth  has  been 
widely  diffused  ; the  sword  of  the  Spirit — the  Word  of  God — 
unsheathed  and  presented  ready  to  the  hand  of  the  church,  in 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  have  been  translated  into  nearly  all  the 
languages  of  the  known  world  ; some  of  which  have  been  reduced 
to  writing  expressly  to  receive  the  sacred  gift.  Copies  of  them, 
or  of  thoughts  born  of  them,  have  been  scattered  like  leaves  of 
the  Tree  of  Life  on  the  wings  of  all  the  winds  of  heaven.  The 
steam  press,  the  steam  ship,  and  the  telegraph,  have  been  made 
ready  to  minister  the  new-creative  truth  to  the  nations. 

Signs,  meanwhile,  that  this  truth  has  lost  none  of  its  primi- 
tive power,  but  is  as  mighty  now  as  at  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
thickening  in  the  missionary  field  and  showing  that  the  Pente- 
costal power  still  waits  with  Him  that  has  the  residue  of  the 
Spirit, — these,  blending  with  these  preparatory  agencies,  seem 
marshaling  on  the  universal  triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Now  in  this  hour  of  vast  preparation  and  expectancy,  what 
waits,  what  wants  within  the  sphere  of  the  church,  to  secure  the 
mighty  prize  so  clearly  in  view  ? Has  the  church  risen  to  the 
height  of  the  occasion — to  the  plane  of  her  great  mission  ? Does 


6 


she  realize,  does  she  adequately  conceive,  even,  her  true  minis- 
trant  mission  and  position — the  true  nature  and  office  of  the 
Christian  life  on  earth  ? Our  Lord’s  definition  and  assignment 
by  his  own  example,  enforced  by  his  precept  as  a model  for  all 
disciples — are  they  not  construed  extensively,  as  extreme  and 
exceptional?  Do  we  not,  by  extenuation  and  abatement,  fritter 
away  language  the  most  explicit  and  categorical  ? Are  not  our 
senses  so  dulled  by  custom,  or  so  dazed  by  worldly  illusion, 
that  "seeing  we  do  not  perceive,  and  hearing  we  do  not  under- 
stand” that  Christ  in  very  deed  meant  what  he  said,  and  meant 
it  for  us  and  now,  when  he  presented  his  own  example  in  coming 
into  the  world — not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and 
to  give  his  life  a ransom  for  many — as  a paradigm  for  all  who 
would  be  his  disciples? 

Requirements  the  most  explicit  and  unequivocal,  of  entire 
consecration,  absolute  devotion,  complete  self-sacrifice;  of  for- 
saking all  that  one  hath ; of  living  not  to  ourselves  but  to  the 
Lord  who  hath  bought  us  ; of  unreserved. , universal  ministra- 
tion of  self  to  the  great  cause , — are  not  such  requirements  sub- 
dued by  construction  into  figurative , intensitive,  exaggerated 
utterances, — into  something  not  entire , not  absolute , not  uni- 
versal, — something  partial,  occasional,  exceptional?  But  surely 
He  who  was  the  very  Truth,  would  not,  in  a matter  of  such 
awful  concernment,  palter  with  us  in  a double  sense,  would  not 
deal  in  phrase  or  figure,  overdrawing  the  reality,  or  leave  the 
law  of  Christian  life  confused  by  overstatement,  or  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  individual  convenience  or  caprice.  And  never,  we 
believe,  till  the  church  gives  full  and  vigorous  interpretation  to 
her  Master’s  commission  and  requirements,  and  recognizes  her 
true  calling,  to  be  in  this  world  as  was  her  Lord — " not  to  be 
ministered  unto  but  to  minister,” — to  minister  her  labors,  her 
prayers,  her  wealth,  her  children,  her  best,  her  all  for  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  and  the  life  of  the  world, — never  till  she  becomes 
profoundly  conscious  that  a life  thus  ministering  is  the  gladdest, 
noblest,  grandest  beneath  the  sun,  will  she  reach  " the  height  of 
her  great  argument”  for  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

But  are  not  our  churches  full,  this  hour,  of  those  who  seem  to 
regard  church-life  as  jiassive  rather  than  active,  exacting  rather 


7 


than  imparting — who  are  in  the  church,  not  to  minister  but  to 
be  ministered  unto — to  find  enjoyment  and  repose — to  be  waited 
on,  cultivated,  caressed  and  insured  for  Heaven — not  to  be 
servants  of  all,  but  to  be  served  of  all?  To  them,  it  wonld 
appear,  the  earthly  church  is  as  though  already  within  the  walls 
of  the  New  Jerusalem. 

But  evermore  the  church  militant  is  the  church  ministrant — 
ministrant  of  her  very  self  for  the  life  of  the  world.  She  wars 
by  ministration.  She  saves  life  by  losing  it  for  Christ.  She 
gains  all  things  by  giving  up  all  things.  She  contends  with  the 
ministries  of  truth  and  love.  She  subdues  the  world  by  devoting 
herself  for  it ; by  ministering  her  pleasures  and  convenience,  her 
comforts,  her  toil,  her  gold,  her  sons  and  her  daughters  ; what- 
ever she  has  most  precious,  yea,  life  itself,  for  human  redemption. 
She  overcomes  by  self-sacrifice  for  the  wretched,  the  ignorant, 
the  hateful,  the  sinful.  Like  her  Lord,  she  is  victor  through 
vicarious  suffering.  She  conquers  by  dying.  By  crucifixion 
sbe  casts  down  the  prince  of  darkness.  By  entering  the  grave 
she  breaks  the  gates  of  hell.  Above  her  onward  march,  over  the 
ensign  of  the  Son  of  God,  bearing  on  his  own  cross  the  sins  of  a 
world,  gleams  evermore  the  blazon,  "In  hoc  vince.” 

This  self-ministration  to  the  cause  is  essential  to  the  triumph 
of  Christianity ; because,  1st.  It  is  essential  to  its  very  exis- 
tence. It  is  of  its  original  vital  essence,  the  very  element  and 
condition  of  its  being,  even  as  shining  is  the  condition  of 
light. 

In  the  2d  place,  it  is  to  the  world  the  proof-impress  of  the 
original  archetype — its  divine  attestation. 

3d.  It  is  God’s  pei'suas ion — his  continued  argument,  of  the 
Christ  lifted  up,  with  a fallen  race  ; yet  a race  not  so  fallen  as 
to  fail  to  recognize  this  proof  of  celestial  original,  or  to  be 
insensible  to  this  manifestation  of  the  beauty  of  God.  The 
world  in  its  moral  ruin,  still  feels  the  divine  charm  of  self-sac- 
rificing love. 

" He  that  will  be  greatest  of  all  shall  be  servant  of  all,”  is 
written  even  in  this  world’s  code  of  honor.  The  ministration  of 
self  for  others  it  recognizes  as  the  royal  mark  on  grand  and 
beautiful  souls.  It  feels  it  to  be  the  God-like, — the  very  love- 


8 


liest,  kingliest  thing  among  the  sons  of  men.  Wherever  it 
meets  or  thinks  it  meets  it,  in  hero,  patriot,  philanthropist  or 
martyr,  it  does  it  reverence.  It  honors,  celebrates  and  worships 
it,  as  something  from  heaven.  It  becomes  the  orator’s  theme, 
the  inspiration  of  th q poet,  the  ideal  of  the  artist.  To  it  the 
nations  institute  festivals,  build  monuments,  temples,  and  West- 
minsters. Spirits  signalized  by  it  walk  the  earth  in  light.  They 
break  in  upon  its  night  with  the  gladness  of  sunbeams.  Sweeter 
than  music  are  their  names  to  the  forlorn  and  wretched.  Like 
angel-faces,  their  thought  wanders  through  the  hospital  and 
asylum,  or  hovers  over  the  eyes  of  the  desolate  and  dying.  The 
less  the  suspicion  of  selfish  alloy,  the  farthest  the  apparent 
removal  from  ambition  of  eclat,  the  more  men  love  and  worship  ; 
so  that  the  humblest,  obscurest  and  most  hidden  life  in  which 
this  self-ministry  moves,  becomes,  to  our  world’s  night,  as  those 
star-fields  whose  lights,  dimmest  to  earth,  shine  in  holiest  height, 
and  nearest  to  God’s  throne.  Such  is  its  charm,  even  to  our 
fallen  world. 

Its  primal  archetype  is  set  forth  in  the  evcr-and-all-minister- 
ing  God,  whose  name  and  essence  is  love,  whose  glory  is  the 
effluence  of  love,  who  is  greatest  of  all  as  He  ministers  to  all. 
Its  imprint  is  on  the  elder  and  mightier  sons  of  light,  whose 
glory  and  bliss  it  is  that  they  are  all  ministering  spirits.  It  is 
incarnated  in  " God  manifest  in  the  flesh,”  vindicating  the  divine 
son-ship  of  him,  who,  " though  rich,  for  our  sakes  became  poor,” 
and  who,  "being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to 
be  equal  with  God,  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took 
upon  him  the  form  of  a servant,  and  became  obedient  unto 
death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross.” 

This  spirit,  incorporate  with  the  idea  and  being  of  the  church, 
and  breathing  through  it  as  its  organ  of  perpetual  utterance,  is 
God’s  eloquence  with  men, — his  signature  on  his  church  ; recog- 
nized as  such  by  the  world,  whose  conversion  waits  its  full  man- 
ifestation. 

That  this  ministrant  spirit  must  make  proof  of  itself  in 
missions , I need  not  argue.  The  church  ministrant  must,  by 
its  very  definition  and  original  constitution  and  commission,  be 
the  church  missionary, — a church  that  goes  forth  from  home 


0 


and  country,  to  seek  and  save  the  alien  and  the  lost.  Originating 
in  a mission  from  heaven  to  a ruined  world,  it  must,  of  its  very 
nature,  go  forth  from  realms  illuminated  to  peoples  that  sit  in 
darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death.  Everywhere,  indeed,  it 
must  be  animated  by  the  missionary  spirit — the  spirit  of  self- 
devotion  for  the  salvation  of  men.  The  life  of  every  true 
Christian  is  a mission  ; cannot,  must  not  be  aught  else  ; no  more 
on  the  hanks  of  the  Hudson  or  Mississippi  than  on  those  of  the 
Ganges,  the  Hoangho,  or  the  Niger. 

But  evidently  it  is  essential  to  the  full  development  of  the 
nature  of  the  church,  and  especially,  its  full  proof  of  itself 
before  the  world,  that  it  go  forth  on  the  foreign  mission.  Bene- 
factions to  our  country  may  be  regarded  as  benefactions  to  our- 
selves, and  patriotism  may  be  construed  as  an  expanded  self- 
love.  But  the  foreign  mission  eminently  impresses  the  world  as 
of  that  " charity  which  seeketh  not  her  own  ; ” which  gives  proof 
of  its  God-likeness  in  that  it  is  without  color  of  selfishness,  and 
is  universal.  Not  only  the  Roman  theatre,  but  the  whole  race  of 
man  rises  up  to  do  homage  to  the  Terentian  assertion  of  a 
catholic  humanity, — " I am  a man,  and  nothing  human  is  foreign 
to  me.” 

Moreover,  a true  home-evangelization  requires  it.  As  an 
expression  and  a culture  of  Christly  love,  and  of  sympathy  with 
the  life-spirit  of  Christianity,  the  mission  abroad  is  vital  to  the 
church  at  home.  To  limit  Christianity  geographically,  violates 
its  nature.  It  is  ubiquitous  in  its  reach,  or  it  is  nothing.  To 
partialize  the  universal,  introduces  a fatal  solecism  into  its 
nature.  It  is,  moreover,  clear  disloyalty  to  the  original  divine 
commission,  and  as  such  must  be  fatal  to  its  life-power.  Indeed, 
in  breaking  up  the  spiritual  torpor  and  narrowness  wont  to 
gather  upon  churches  that  are  content  to  shut  up  their  Christian 
sympathies  within  their  own  borders,  the  reflex  benefits  of  for- 
eign missions  can  hardly  be  over-estimated.  In  truth,  such  are 
the  ultimate  relations,  now,  between  different  parts  of  the  world, 
that  it  could  be  readily  shown  that  missions  are  richly  remu- 
nerative in  the  light  of  a true,  moral,  we  might  even  add, 
political  economy,  to  home  interests. 

But  the  foreign  mission  is  especially  valuable  in  the  profound 

B 


10 


and  striking  impression  it  makes  on  the  world  generally,  of  a 
ministrant  Christianity, — of  an  entire  and  absolute  ministration  of 
self  for  the  salvation  of  men. 

I speak  now  of  impression  on  the  ivorlcl.  Every  Christian 
life,  at  home  or  abroad,  is  in  truth  such  a ministration.  Its  con- 
secration is  entire  or  nothing.  " Whosoever  forsaketh  not  all 
that  he  hath,  cannot  be  my  disciple,”  is  the  law  as  much  in  Chris- 
tian America  as  in  India  or  Central  Africa.  And  in  general,  I 
believe,  such  a life  involves  as  much  sacrifice  and  brings  as  much 
happiness  in  one  field  as  in  another.  It  is  the  great  first  step 
which  costs,  in  either.  And  it  is  more  what  we  are,  than  where, 
that  fixes  the  happiness  as  well  as  nobleness  of  life.  These  are 
determined  more  by  loyalty  to  our  professed  self-consecration,  its 
entirety  and  absoluteness,  than  any  or  all  exterior  circumstances 
whatsoever. 

Nevertheless  the  foreign  mission  presents  such  self-devotion  in 
a form  which  especially  strikes  the  sense  of  the  world.  The 
denial  of  instinctive  sentiments,  common  to  all  men  and  appreci- 
able by  all  men  ; the  sundering  of  ties  universally  felt  as  among 
the  strongest  on  earth — those  of  home,  kindred,  country  ; the 
voluntary  surrender  of  the  sweets  of  civilization  and  culture,  for 
perpetual  exile  amid  dark-souled,  barbarous,  or  semi-barbarous 
and  pagan  peoples  ; such  a sacrifice, — visible,  summary,  abso- 
lute, irrevocable, — especially  impresses  the  world  with  the  sense 
of  a faith  and  love  above  its  plane  of  being,  and  having  origin  in 
higher  realms.  It  also  touches  the  mind  of  the  church  at  large 
with  a true  consciousness  of  her  calling. 

In  corrupt  and  apostate  ages,  such  examples  of  consecration 
have  been  exponential  of  the  divine  life  immanent  in  the  church. 
They  appear  like  pulses  of  the  consciousness  of  a higher  world 
breaking  in  upon  a torpid  and  stagnant  worldly  church-life. 

That  the  enthusiastic  and  imaginative  sentiments  have  often 
had  to  do  with  the  origin  and  enterprise  of  foreign  missions,  as 
also  with  their  impression  on  the  popular  mind,  cannot  be  denied. 
But  who  shall  deny  that  these  sentiments,  though  requiring  to  be 
carefully  guarded  from  a mere  spirit  of  romance,  still  have  their 
legitimate  and  beneficent  sphere  in  the  economy  of  a world  of 
faith,  and  that  it  is  well  to  have  occasions  to  call  them  forth  in  a 


11 


cause  where,  after  all,  the  real  forever  transcends  our  utmost 
ideal,  and  imagination  falls  below  our  soberest  logic?  The 
examples  called  forth  thereby  are  channels  for  the  illapsc  of 
modes  of  thought  and  feeling  from  a loftier  and  truer  realm  into 
our  common  life  ; similar  in  effect  to  those  of  martyrdoms  in  the 
ancient  church. 

It  were  easy  to  show  that  not  only  the  primal  impression,  but 
also  the  continued  conscious  connection  of  the  home  with  the 
foreign  field,  and  the  constant  presentation  of  claims  for  a purely 
Christian  ministration  of  men,  money,  personal  labor  and  sacrifice, 
must  be  stimulant  and  purifying,  and  tending  to  keep  the  church 
in  healthful  sympathy  with  its  original  idea. 

But  argumentative  detail  is  unnecessary.  The  foreign  mission 
is  clearly  incorporate  with  the  essential  nature  and  orginal  com- 
mission of  the  church,  and  is  indissolubly  connected  with  its 
purity  and  power.  It  originated  in  a foreign  mission — if  indeed 
anything  is  foreign  to  the  blessed  heaven — a mission  from  heaven 
to  a lost  world  ; and  the  foreign  mission  must  ever  be  to  it  a 
vital  ministrant  function. 

The  argument  from  the  life-principles  of  the  church  is  con- 
firmed by  history,  and  God’s  methods  of  providence.  Histori- 
cally, the  life-eras  of  the  church  have  synchronized  with  the  minis- 
trant and  missionary  spirit,  both  as  cause  and  effect.  Through 
the  darkest  periods  of  Christianity,  its  life  is  traced  through  that 
spirit,  sympathizing  with  it  in  its  vigor  or  decay.  Where  this 
spirit  has  failed,  Christianity  itself  has  seemed  to  die.  Where  it 
has  lived,  even  in  crude  and  crass  form,  there,  notwithstanding 
errors  and  offences  in  doctrine  and  government,  Christianity  has 
lived  on,  under  all  and  in  spite  of  all ; each  marked  renewal  of 
Christian  life  or  reform  in  the  church,  being  marked  by  a revival 
of  this  spirit. 

To  this  spirit,  moreover,  developing  itself  in  missions,  Chris- 
tianity owes  what  extension  it  has  achieved.  Various  mundane 
agencies  God  has  used,  as  preparatory  and  auxiliary.  But  each 
new,  genuine  evangelization  of  nations  has  been  through  express 
and  formal  missions.  When  these  have  ceased,  the  frontiers 
of  Christendom  have  ceased  to  widen, — often  have  shrunk. 

God  has,  moreover,  by  his  providence,  enforced  the  ministrant 


12 


action  of  the  church,  expressly  enjoined  in  the  Great  Commission. 
Whenever  she  has  seemed  settling  down  in  mere  self-maintenance 
or  self-culture,  and  in  contentment  with  past  victories  and 
acquired  domain,  the  Providence  that  ever  watches  over  her  has 
permitted  her  repose  to  be  perturbed.  Persecution  and  convul- 
sion, invasions  or  immigrations  have  aroused  and  proved  her, 
broken  up  stagnation,  brought  her  to  ministrant  confession, 
scattered  her  members,  and  compelled  their  testimony  among 
new  peoples.  So  he  broke  up  the  early  coagulation  of  the 
church  about  Jerusalem,  by  the  persecutions  connected  with  the 
martyrdoms  of  Stephen,  James  the  greater,  and  James  the  less, 
and  finally  by  the  destruction  of  the  city  itself;  compelling  the 
disciples  to  go  abroad,  everywhere  proclaiming  the  kingdom  of 
God.  To  the  same  intent  wrought  the  persecutions  of  pagan 
Rome.  So  of  the  church,  nominally  mistress  of  the  empire.  Its 
stagnancy,  tending  to  rapid  corruption,  was  broken  up  by  the 
invasion  and  migration  of  nations,  which  enforced  the  ministra- 
tion of  Christian  life  and  truth  to  the  heathen,  by  captivities, 
dispersions,  enslavements  ; or  led  to  formal  missions  to  the  Goths 
and  Germanic  tribes,  whereby  the  edge  of  the  barbaric  sword  was 
broken,  so  that,  in  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  world,  it  did  not 
rage  utterly  against  the  church  and  Christian  institutions.  So  the 
overflow  of  ancient  Christendom  by  the  barbarians,  compelled  the 
ministration  of  Christianity  to  new  nations,  by  contact  under 
pressure,  and  constrained  the  church  to  be  missionary  in  order  to 
self-preservation. 

But  political  changes  were  not  factors  of  evangelization,  or 
real  conversion.  These  were  wrought  only  by  the  ministrant 
and  missionary  agency  to  which  they  furnished  opportunity, 
occasions,  or  necessity.  The  same  was  the  fact  under  the  sword 
of  the  Merovingians  and  Carlovingians,  and  of  the  new  Ger- 
manic empire.  It  was  the  mission  that  followed  the  sword, 
ministrant  of  truth  and  love,  and  of  personal  labor,  sacrifice 
and  suffering,  that  converted  a nominal  and  enforced  into  actual 
Christianization.  It  is  to  missionaries  mainly  from  the  Irish 
and  Anglican  church — the  Winifreds  and  Willcbrods,  the 
Columbans  and  St.  Galls,  and  their  successors,  the  Ansgars, 
Ottos,  Adelberts  and  their  coadjutors — it  is  to  the  devotion  and 


13 


self-sacrifice  of  those  engaged  in  personal  missions,  and  for  the 
love  of  Christ  and  of  souls  penetrating  forests,  crossing  wintry 
rivers,  braving  frost  and  storm,  the  miasma  of  marsh  and  the 
terrors  of  savage  nature  and  more  savage  men — it  is  to  these 
individual  missionaries  more  than  to  armies  or  edicts  of  force, 
that  nations,  now  the  mightiest  in  Europe,  owe  their  Christi- 
anity. 

The  same  was  the  law  of  Christian  life  and  spread  under  the 
era  of  spiritual  despotism.  It  was  not  the  church  imperial, 
throned  and  sceptred  on  the  seven  hills,  arrayed  in  purple  and 
scarlet,  arrogating  universal  lordship,  fulminating  interdicts  and 
instituting  inquisitions,  claiming  to  coerce  the  faith  and  submis- 
sion of  the  world,  and  to  be  ministered  to  of  all  nations, — it  was 
not  this,  but  the  church  ministrant  in  the  wilderness, — the  church 
of  the  cottage,  the  hut,  the  hamlet,  the  cave  and  catacomb, 
amid  the  poor,  the  suffering,  the  humble,  the  wretched,  in  seclu- 
sion and  often  concealment,  that  bore  the  true  succession  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and  kept  alive  the  true  confession  of 
Christ  among  men.  The  genuine  succession  runs  through  the 
church-ministrant,  not  the  church  imperial.  God’s  seal  of 
genuine  apostolicity  is  on  it.  The  transmission  was  through  the 
living,  not  the  dead.  There  is  no  mortmain  in  the  kingdom  of 
God, — no  succession  in  dead  hands. 

Missions  also  betokened  the  revival  of  apostolic  Christianity 
through  the  subsequent  ages.  Thus  out  of  the  Lutheran  reform, 
— after  the  struggle  for  existence  had  ceased  to  tax  all  its  ener- 
gies, — and  subsequently,  out  of  the  Whitfieldian  and  Wesleyan 
revival  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  evolved,  largely,  the  spirit 
and  enterprise  of  modern  missions. 

These  missions,  though  yet  mainly  in  their  pioneer  and  pre- 
paratory stages,  have  accomplished  enough  to  demonstrate  the 
proposition,  that  through  the  express  and  formal  mission , — 
not  by  commerce  or  conquest,  or  the  contact  of  civilizations, — 
the  evangelization  of  heathen  nations  is  to  be  effected  and  the 
domain  of  genuine  Christendom  to  be  extended.  Already  vast 
results,  not  in  preparation  only,  but  in  actual  achievement;  not 
in  the  realm  of  ideas  alone,  but  in  change  of  institutions  ; not 
in  impression  on  popular  thought  merely,  but  in  the  spiritual 


14 


conversion  of  multitudes,  attest  the  continued  potency  of  genuine 
ministrant  Christianity,  and  the  presence  of  the  new  creative 
Spirit.  "The  handful  of  corn  on  the  top  of  the  mountains,” — 
"the  fruit  thereof ” has  already  shaken  "like  Lebanon.”  And 
slow  as  the  process  has  seemed  to  us,  it  has  been  rapid  beyond 
the  precedent  of  former  ages.  In  historic  comparison,  the 
prophetic  declaration  seems  truly  verified,  that  nations  are  born 
in  a day. 

Again,  the  church  ministrant  is  not  only  the  great  diffuser  of 
the  Christian  faith,  but  is  also  the  proper  conservator  and  elabo- 
ralor  of  that  faith , i.  e.,  of  a pure  theology.  Such  a theology 
is  not  so  much  wrought  out  in  the  schools  as  in  life, — is  less  the 
product  of  speculative  dialectics,  than  of  practical  uses  and  exi- 
gencies. The  truth  and  value  of  dogmas  are  gauged  fitly  by 
their  relation  to  the  great  problem  to  be  accomplished — the  con- 
version of  the  world. 

Arms  and  armor  are  best  elaborated  and  tested  in  actual  war- 
fare. Use  discovers  and  perfects  instruments.  The  science  of  a 
power  is  wrought  out  from  its  practical  application,  as  that  of 
steam  by  millions  of  brains  and  hands  in  innumerable  operative 
fields.  So  keeping  men  in  constant  presence  and  practical  use 
of  great  natural  forces,  imparts  a perpetual  consciousness  of  their 
reality  and  potency  ; teaches  their  proper  correlation  and  co- 
ordination ; and  gives  a quick  faculty  in  their  harmonious  appli- 
cation. So  a true  theology  is  best  appreciated,  gauged  and 
adjusted,  as  well  as  most  profoundly  believed,  in  practical  con- 
verse with  the  great  problem  of  human  salvation.  It  is  likeliest 
to  be  found  in  minds  in  intensest  sympathy  with  the  original  life- 
spirit  and  aim  of  the  mission  of  Christ,  as  the  solar  system  is  best 
comprehended  from  a stand-point  on  its  central  orb. 

Not  by  synods  or  sorbonnes,  so  much  as  by  practical  minis- 
tries, has  the  faith  of  the  church  been  conserved  and  developed. 
Men  thrown  amid  the  actual  dynamics  of  nature  are  little  likely 
to  doubt  the  law  of  gravitation.  Those  engaged  in  callings 
requiring  practical  converse  with  astronomical  phenomena,  will 
feel  little  need  of  resort  to  assemblies  of  savans  to  re-enact,  from 
time  to  time,  with  formal  solemnity,  the  dogma  of  the  Coperni- 
can  system. 


Movement,  moreover,  and  endeavor  along  the  line  of  the 
church’s  original  mission,  will  tend  to  purify  both  faith  and  life, 
and  to  give  it  power  of  conservative  regimen.  The  vessel  that, 
without  power  of  guidance,  is  wrecked  on  the  dead  surges,  can 
feel  her  helm  only  when  she  feels  the  propelling  wind  or  steam. 
Waters  that  ferment  when  stagnant,  and  breed  all  corrupt  and 
venomous  things,  become  livers  of  life  as  they  flow.  Such 
is  the  law  of  life  in  the  church.  It  waits  on  ministrant 
movement. 

Missions,  again,  are  the  great  unitive  forces  of  the  church, 
the  great  means  of  truly  realizing  the  prayer  of  our  Lord  for  the 
oneness  of  his  disciples.  What  we  vainly  reach  after  by  con- 
templation of  differences,  and  attempts  to  harmonize  or  annihi- 
late them,  is  naturally  achieved  by  supreme  ministry  to  a com- 
mon end  ; as  the  life-struggle  of  nations  silences,  for  the  time, 
the  strifes  of  political  parties,  one  common,  supreme  enterprise 
unites  by  subordinating  and  correlating  all  minor  individual 
interests  and  tenets.  As  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  valley, 
from  the  Alleghany  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  widely  asunder  and 
with  currents  most  diverse,  defy  all  the  engineers  and  Hibernians 
of  the  earth  to  unite  them,  but  brought  under  one  great  law,  move 
from  all  their  springs  to  swell  one  mighty  stream,  and  laterals 
that  threatened  to  stay  or  deflect,  augment  and  accelerate  the 
march  of  the  waters  to  the  sea.  Forces  that,  working  within, 
convulse,  directed  to  one  objective  aim,  minister  strength.  In  a 
great  conflagration,  the  most  impracticable  material  is  converted 
into  fuel. 

Thus  missions  are  exponents  and  factors  of  ecclesiastic  life, 
purity  and  progress,  and  the  effort  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world  is  coronal  to  all  ministries  for  the  prosperity  of  the 
church. 

But  why  go  abroad  ? Why  not  wait  the  objects  of  missions 
brought,  as  they  are  being  brought,  in  a migration  of  nations,  to 
our  own  shores?  Because  both  history  and  reason  show  that 
Carthage  must  be  conquered  in  Africa.  Streams  are  purified 
most  readily  at  the  fountain.  Immigrant  masses  are  most  readily 
rendered  innocuous  and  beneficent  by  missions  directed  toward 
the  countries  which  are  the  centres  and  foci  of  false  faiths,  from 


16 


which  they  largety  come.  Missions  in  both  directions,  domestic 
and  foreign,  are  requisite  and  mutually  supplemental.  Indeed, 
such  is  the  oneness  of  humanity  now  developed,  that  the  only 
way  to  permanently  save  one  nation,  evidently  is  to  save  all ; to 
leave  no  exterior  circle  of  barbarism  or  falsehood  to  breed  infec- 
tion or  attack ; no  outside  Gog  and  Magog,  to  bring  war  anew 
on  the  camp  of  the  saints. 

Evidently,  therefore,  the  coming  of  the  Lord  waits  the  true 
ministration  of  the  church.  The  world  waits  this  coronal  proof. 
And  the  hour  of  coronal  proof  we  believe  will  be  the  hour  of 
coronal  triumph.  Rationalism,  now  the  subtlest  and  deadliest  of 
antagonists  to  the  gospel,  which  relies  not  on  out-arguing,  but 
on  out-living  and  out-growing  Christianity,  will  be  confuted  and 
confounded  by  the  actual  proof  of  its  immortality  of  life  and 
vigor ; must  despair  as  it  sees  the  ministrant  Christ  still  mani- 
festly living  in  the  ministrant  church,  and  leading  her  on,  con- 
quering and  to  conquer. 

The  cause,  therefore,  now  summons  the  church  to  the  utmost 
development  and  energizing  of  all  her  ministrant  agencies.  The 
call  is  to  all  the  blood-bought  in  every  place  and  every  sphere, 
not  for  detached  and  selected  regiments  or  troops  of  the  line 
alone,  but  for  a "land-wehr”  and  " land-sturm.”  The  minis- 
trant activity  must  quicken  through  each  class  and  order,  and 
with  entire  consecration  of  all  elements  of  power,  material  or 
ideal,  spiritual  or  temporal.  The  brain  and  heart,  the  gold  and 
silver,  the  personal  energies  and  influence  of  each  ; all  business, 
all  callings,  all  are  to  be  held  as  ministrant  means  to  the  Great 
Cause.  On  the  very  bells  of  the  horses  is  to  be  written,  " Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord.” 

In  summing  up  our  argument,  among  the  principles  evolved 
from  our  theme  and  from  the  history  of  the  church,  we  note  the 
following, — 1st,  The  conversion  of  the  tcorld  is  to  be  wrought 
through  the  church  ministrant , directhj  lifting  up  the  cruci- 
fied Christ  before  the  nations ; — lifting  him  up  by  self-minis- 
trations that  are  constant  representations  of  his  vicarious  sacrifice, 
and  that  constantly  evidence  in  the  church  the  presence  of  him 
who  gave  his  life  a ransom  for  many.  This  is  the  essential,  vital, 
capital  agency  for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  Other  influences, 


17 


as  those  of  commerce,  intercourse,  political  institutions,  educa- 
tional culture,  contact  of  civilizations,  or  extensions  of  empire, 
may  pioneer,  prepare,  or  co-operate.  But  they  are  not  to  be 
waited  for  or  relied  on,  and  are  utterly  inadequate  without  direct 
evangelizing  effort.  Without  such  effort,  indeed,  weaker  nations 
are  not  saved,  but  perish  by  contact  with  superior  civilizations. 
For  the  conversion  of  nations  we  must  look  to  the  direct  minis- 
tration of  the  gospel, — now  and  ever,  and  to  all  men,  " the  wis- 
dom of  God  and  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.”  Culture  and 
civilization  may  be  auxiliaries,  and  are  to  be  expected  as  results 
of  evangelization,  but  arc  not  to  be  insisted  on  or  waited  for  as 
pre-requisite  antecedents. 

2d.  The  most  vital  of  all  our  ministries  to  missionary 
churches  is  that  of  the  ministrant  spirit  itself.  This  alone 
can  develope  and  stimulate  their  life-power.  For  this  our  min- 
istrations must  consult.  Continual  material  support  may  dwarf 
and  paralyze  its  beneficiaries,  and  prevent  natural  growth  and 
development.  But  self-ministry  secured,  secures  not  only  self- 
sustentation  but  self-diffusion.  The  Christianity  thus  planted 
will  be  Christ-like.  It  will  be  vital  and  self-propagating.  It 
will  develope  itself  in  native  growth  and  the  production  of  native 
preachers  and  pastors,  and  native  missions. 

3d.  In  order  to  the  development  of  this  self-ministry  in 
missionary  churches,  they  must,  as  speedily  as  practicable , be 
wrought  to  self-government , and  be  left  to  develope  and  order 
themselves  according  to  the  law  of  Christian  liberty.  Free- 
dom is  the  element  of  ministration.  It  is  requisite  to  the  full 
culture  and  application  of  ministrant  energies.  Without  it 
there  is  no  permanent  vitality,  no  development  of  self-sustain- 
ing or  of  life-diffusing  power.  There  is  peril  of  perpetual 
nonage  and  impotency — that  you  may  have  in  the  end  only  a 
home  bureau  with  foreign  outposts — an  East  India  house  and  a 
factory. 

4th.  This  ecclesiastical  independency,  or  self-regimen  in  the 
missions,  is  to  be  protected  from  individualism  or  selfish 
isolation,  from  anarchism,  faction,  schism,  and  perversions 
of  faith,  by  the  Christ-like  ministrant  spirit  developed  in  it. 
This  spirit  must  become  a reliance  for  the  communion  of  the 
c 


18 


churches,  which  is  only  a communion  of  mutual  ministries, 
helps,  counsels  and  sympathies;  and  also,  as  the  best  safeguard 
for  Christian  brotherhood  and  equality  against  a spirit  of  ambi- 
tion or  domination  ; even  as  this  same  spirit  is  expressly  enjoined 
by  our  Lord  as  antidote  to  emulations,  rivalries  and  usurpations 
of  lordship  among  his  disciples.  It  will  also  be,  as  we  have 
shown,  the  most  effective  assurance  of  substantive  purity  of  the 
faith — a living  and  a practical  one. 

Thus  this  principle,  inwrought,  tends  to  secure  in  the  mission 
churches  life  and  order,  unity  and  freedom ; the  speculative, 
regulated  and  conserved  by  the  practical ; that  blending  of  indi- 
vidual spontaneity  with  organic  solidarity,  which  constitutes  the 
acme  of  social  power,  such  as  was  largely  represented  in  the 
primitive  ecclesiastical  type,  by  which  Christianity  was  propa- 
gated through  the  ancient  Roman  world,  and  which  will  ever 
be  found  possessed  of  equal  fitness  and  power ; giving  now, 
as  it  did  then,  the  freest  play  to  the  great  organic  agencies  of 
truth,  liberty  and  love,  and  the  influences  of  the  ever-present 
Spirit. 

5th.  Missions  must  be  sustained  abroad  by  such  means  as 
shall  most  widely  diffuse  the  ministrant  spirit  among  the 
churches  at  home.  This  needs  to  be  cultivated,  as  much  for 
their  own  life  as  for  that  of  the  missions  they  sustain  ; and  that 
not  only  among  particular  sections,  classes,  or  individuals,  but 
universally. 

6th.  Missionary  ministrations,  as  a normal  and  perpetual, 
not  exceptional  or  spasmodic  agency  of  the  church,  must  be  ren- 
dered in  patience  of  hope  and  of  faith  in  the  divine  jiromise 
and  the  divine  Spirit , and  in  reliance  for  success,  not  on 
eclat,  or  pageant,  or  force,  or  artifice,  but  on  the  patient 
ministry  of  truth  and  love,  of  suffering  and  sacrifice.  With 
our  Lord  as  leader,  we  are  to  walk  by  faith  in  this  highway, 
knowing  it  will  at  last  emerge  in  light. 

7th.  It  is  now  evident  that  the  conversion  of  the  world  waits 
upon  the  re-baptism  of  the  church  into  its  original  life-spirit. 
She  must  come  up  more  to  the  scriptural  ideal,  the  Christly 
model, — must  hear  and  obey  the  voice  of  the  Master, — before 
her  prayer,  going  up  through  the  ages,  shall  be  answered.  She 


19 


must  manifest  Christ  " lifted  up  ” by  ministering  her  all,  her 
very  self,  for  the  redemption  of  the  world  ; must  feel  that  this  is 
her  work  in  this  world,  her  business,  the  business  of  each  and 
every  member,  everywhere  and  at  all  times. 

8th.  It  is  evident  that  the  church  is  to  be  wrought  to  this 
ideal  chiefly  through  missions  themselves.  The  culture  is  in 
the  process  ; the  preparation  in  the  endeavor.  By  shining  she 
grows  light.  If  the  church,  in  large  portions  of  it,  is  far  removed 
from  that  model,  it  will  be  by  quickening  the  parts  most  living 
that  those  most  dead  will  be  delivered  from  torpor,  and  the  whole 
body  from  mortification.  To  fit  ourselves  for  the  work  of  the 
world’s  conversion,  we  must  in  earnest  address  ourselves  to  it; 
and  not  in  masses  and  societies  alone.  Primitive  evangelization 
was  chiefly  through  the  mission  of  the  individual,  solitary,  or 
with  few  associates.  We  must  see  to  it  that  in  our  superior 
system  we  lose  not  the  original  spirit,  and  the  sense  of  individual 
responsibility  in  every  class  and  sphere. 

9th.  Especially,  one  part  of  the  church,  embracing  more  than 
half  its  members,  peculiarly  endowed  with  ministrant  instinct  and 
faculty,  and  whose  influence  on  our  entire  civilization,  though 
subtle,  delicate  and  silent,  is  as  potent  as  that  of  the  imponder- 
ables— light,  heat  and  electricity — in  the  material  world,  must  be 
more  drawn  into  conscious  sympathy  and  co-operation  with  this 
great  movement.  The  feminine  element,  so  prominent  in  the 
primitive  evangelic  mission,  though  much  lost  sight  of  in 
subsequent  ages, — when  the  ministrant  church  disappears  more 
from  history  and  becomes  largely  merged  in  the  imperial  and 
despotic, — must  be  more  fully  utilized. 

It  is  auspicious  for  the  times  that  woman  is  being  extensively 
aroused  anew  to  a consciousness  of  privilege,  power  and  respon- 
sibility in  this  interest.  Her  peculiar  spheres  and  avenues  of 
influence  ; her  privileged  admission  to  the  homes  and  the  domestic 
life  of  peoples  ; her  exclusive  access  to  half  the  population  ; and 
the  fact  that  civilization  and  evangelization  never  go  by  halves  ; 
these  things  are  becoming  more  recognized  in  the  missionary 
economy. 

The  gospel,  indeed,  puts  especial  honor  on  woman.  It  uti- 
lizes and  sceptres  her  peculiar  gifts.  In  its  system,  her  function 


20 


is  most  potent  if  not  regent.  The  virtues  and  graces  which 
seem  most  germane  to  her  nature,  her  gentleness,  delicacy  and 
sympathy,  that  apply  themselves  with  loving  intuition  and  felicity 
of  tact,  and  in  patient  and  quiet  sacrifice  to  ministries  for  others, 
are  in  especial  power  and  honor  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ.  In 
truth,  in  accordance  with  that  perfect  completeness  wjiich  attaches 
to  him  as  a universal  Saviour,  there  is  much  we  feel  as  feminine — 
not  effeminate — in  the  character  of  Christ  himself ; foreshadow- 
ing the  potency  and  beauty  of  that  element  in  the  church  he 
founded.  The  church  now  needs  to  call  this  element,  embracing 
so  large  a portion  of  its  members,  into  more  active  missionary 
sympathy  and  co-operation,  at  home  and  abroad. 

Gladly  and  hopefully  we  now  welcome  woman  to  the  successor- 
ship  of  the  Marys,  Marthas,  Salomes  and  others,  who  ministered 
to  our  Lord  in  his  walk  on  earth,  and  were  ' last  at  the  cross 
and  earliest  at  the  grave,’  and  to  that  of  the  Syntiches,  and  Pris- 
cillas, and  Euodiases,  and  those  women  who  labored  with  Paul 
and  the  Philippian  church,  in  the  work  of  the  gospel.  The  forces 
of  motherhood,  wifehood,  sisterhood,  daughterhood,  and  those 
quicker  sympathies  and  affections, — those  subtle  and  delicate,  yet 
most  potent  influences  which  are  the  prerogative  of  woman, — 
these  belong  with  especial  propriety  to  the  church,  and  are  to  be 
enlisted  for  its  triumph  at  home  and  in  foreign  lands. 

In  the  great  social  stir  of  the  times — when  woman  is  repu- 
diating the  old  idea  of  a mere  inert  and  frivolous,  or  of  a pageant 
or  drudge  life,  and  is  aspiring  to  spheres  wider,  loftier  and 
nobler,  whatever  we  may  think  of  issues  contested  in  other 
directions,  there  opens  to  her  here,  beyond  caption,  cavil  or 
controversy,  a field  for  which  she  has  especial  endowments  of 
heaven,  than  which  none  grander,  more  beautiful,  or  more 
beneficent,  is  found  among  the  daughters  or  sons  of  men ; a 
future  to  which  a ministrant  church,  and  ministering  angels,  and 
the  ministering  Christ  welcome  her. 

Indeed  the  cause  invites  and  requires  all,  learned  or  unlearned, 
weak  or  strong,  "young  men  and  maidens,  old  men  and  chil- 
dren ; ” all  faculties,  gifts,  graces,  temperaments,  vocations, 
spheres.  It  is  constituted  of  all,  demands  all,  utilizes  all  ele- 
ments of  influence  or  power.  Each  Christian,  as  he  or  she 


21 


hopes  for  pardon,  divine  heirship,  kingship  and  eternal  glory 
through  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  is  bound  thereby  to  min- 
ister all  of  life  and  being  to  it.  The  conflict  between  light  and 
darkness,  love  and  hate,  in  which  every  Christian  has  enlisted, 
has  no  truce,  no  remission,  no  lull,  no  neutral  place  or  party, 
knows  no  stationary  border,  till  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  are 
become  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord.  In  this  conflict,  moreover, 
where  militancy  is  ministry ; the  weapons,  truth  and  love ; 
strategy,  self-sacrifice  ; success,  the  giving  up  of  all  ; and  happi- 
ness, self-oblivion  ; where  also  the  gentlest  things  are  the  might- 
iest, the  humblest  are  the  loftiest,  the  most  delicate  the  strongest, 
and  childlike  love  and  trust  transcends  all  the  wisdom  of  all  the 
schools  ; yea,  where  " out  of  the  mouths  of  babes  and  sucklings,” 
more  than  all  the  sabaoth  of  the  heavens,  is  God’s  praise  to  be 
perfected  ; and  where,  by  " the  weak  things  of  the  world  God 
casts  down  the  things  that  are  mighty,  and  by  the  things  which 
are  not,  brings  to  naught  the  things  which  are,” — in  such  a con- 
flict, every  element — the  subtlest  and  obscurest — is  in  requisi- 
tion and  has  its  value,  read  only  in  the  notation  of  God.  Each 
member  of  the  elect  host,  in  whatever  sphere  or  home,  is  a power, 
and  is  enlisted,  not  for  his  own  salvation  only,  but  for  the  salva- 
tion of  a world.  For  this  we  all  are  to  live,  to  labor  and  pray, 
and  to  give  and  endure,  as  long  as  we  walk  beneath  the  sun  ; not 
at  home,  never  at  rest,  never  at  peace,  till  behind  us  are  the 
doors  of  the  City  of  Light.  Meantime,  the  sweetest,  kingliest, 
divinest  thing  we — the  mightiest  or  meanest  alike — can  do,  is  to 
minister  our  entire  being  to  it.  So  all  shall  walk  at  last  with 
those  who,  in  elder  times,  "obtained  a good  report  through  faith  ; ” 
so  stand  with  those  who  stand  on  the  sea  of  glass  and  have  gotten 
the  victory,  by  "not  loving  their  lives  unto  the  death.” 

“ Where  white-robed  saints,  the  star-thrones  singing  under, 

Their  state  all  meekly  wear ; 

Whose  ceaseless  praise  goes  up  from  hearts  that  wonder 
That  ever  they  came  there.” 

So  all  shall  at  last  wear  the  glory  of  Him  " who,  being  in  the 
form  of  God,  took  on  him  the  form  of  a servant,”  and  came  from 


22 


the  highest  throne  of  the  highest  heaven,  " not  to  be  ministered 
unto  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a ransom  for  many.” 
Whom  God,  therefore,  "hath  highly  exalted,  and  given  a name 
which  is  above  every  name.”  So  shall  we  surely,  even  in  this 
life,  be  children  of  him  whose  name  and  nature,  and  whose  efflu- 
ent and  ineffable  glory  is  Love. 

Beloved  friends,  wheresoever  and  in  whatsoever  sphere  may  be 
to  us  God’s  allotment  of  labor,  let  us  work  on  in  patience  of 
love  and  faith,  devoting  our  life’s  force  to  building  the  temple  of 
the  Lord.  We  know  not  how  or  what  we  build.  But  the  Great 
Architect  is  above,  and  millions  infinite  of  ministries,  under  his 
plan,  are  wrought  into  its  scheme.  In  darkness  and  deeps 
though  it  be ; in  difficulties,  discouragements,  and  seeming  dis- 
asters ; or  in  mingled  light  and  shadow,  success  and  failure, 
defeat  and  victory,  and  celestial  glories  glimpsing  athwart  a field 
of  toil,  sorrows  and  graves, — however  it  may  be,  it  is  ours  ever, 
in  childlike  trust,  to  build  on.  Through  all,  the  mighty  struc- 
ture shall  surely  rise — is  rising.  " The  mountain  of  the  Lord’s 
house  shall  be  established  in  the  top  of  the  mountains,  and 
exalted  above  the  hills,”  and  our  eyes  shall  surely,  at  last,  behold 
it. 

It  is  typed  by  nature  herself,  in  her  fiigh  places  in  the  mate- 
rial world,  where  often,  to  one  emerging  from  a mazy,  tangled 
and  difficult  climb,  upon  some  lofty  mountain,  a glory  of  the 
earth  and  sky  suddenly  breaks  upon  him,  like  a new  Jerusalem 
let  down  from  heaven.  Thus,  recently,  as  after  a toilsome 
clamber  through  forest-glooms,  and  wilds  formless  and  desolate, 
and  up  arduous  steeps,  I emerged  upon  one  of  the  loftiest  peaks 
of  the  Adirondacks,  there  was  suddenly  revealed  a scene  such  as 
our  eyes  may  rarely  behold  this  side  the  Golden  City,  and  which 
seemed  to  type  the  Coronal  Temple  itself. 

I seemed  standing  as  in  the  presence  of  one  of  God’s  great 
ministers.  The  "Gothic  Mountains,”  fitly  so  named,  rising 
immediately  before  me,  with  awful  mural  steeps,  castellated  with 
cliffy  turret  and  battlement,  and  their  white  escarpments,  or 
sharp  cut,  salient  angles,  wrought  by  the  elements  into  wondrous 
tracery,  and  mysterious  symbol,  carved  or  emblazoned,  with 


semblance  of  cross  and  sacred  emblem,  or  of  column,  oriel, 
pointed  arch  or  half-swung  portal,  seemed  as  the  facade  of  some 
vast  cathedral,  surmounted  with  sweep  on  sweep  of  ridge  and 
peak  above  and  beyond,  that  appeared  as  frieze  and  architrave  of 
its  mighty  entablature ; while  farther  on,  and  higher,  crowning 
the  stupendous  pile,  and  girt  round  with  lesser  heights  that 
stretched  as  satellites,  pinnacles  and  cupolas,  to  the  horizon’s 
utmost  verge,  upsprang  the  central  dome,  the  mighty  Tahawas 
itself,  and  under  a sky  "so  cloudless,  deep,  and  purely  beautiful, 
that  God  alone  was  to  be  seen  in  heaven.” 

As  I emerged  on  this  view,  I saw  before  me,  emblazoned, 
" the  mountain  of  the  Lord’s  house  established  in  the  top  of  the 
mountains.”  Over  what  an  agony  and  ruin  of  nature  upheaved, 
in  what  gloomy  and  formless  deeps  founded,  was  that  glorious 
pile  ! From  what  dismal  disorder  of  marsh  and  fen,  and  cliff 
and  flood,  and  forest  it  rose  ! From  what  confusions  of  nooks 
and, vales  hidden  in  beauty*  and  crystal  cascade  and  rivulet,  and 
flowers  of  wondrous  sweetness,  strangely  blent  with  poisonous 
growths  and  wilds  deform,  rocks,  caves,  bogs,  dens  and  shades 
of  death  ! Yet  from  all  this  at  last  uprose — what  a visible  hal- 
lelujah of  the  mountains  and  the  sky  ! A liturgy  statuesque  in 
eternal  granite  ! 

Even  so  God  builds  the  mountain  of  his  house  against  the 
latter  day.  Out  of  glooms  and  deeps,  cycles  of  disaster  and 
agony,  wildernesses  of  toil,  and  doubt,  and  fear,  and  sorrow,  and 
pain,  strangely  mingling  with  visions  of  celestial  sweetness  and 
beauty,  and  touched  often  with  gleams  of  light  and  joy  from 
higher  worlds,  upsprings,  at  last,  the  coronal  glory  ! That  glory 
all  the  faithful  at  last  shall  surely  see ; see  as  wrought  out  of 
God,  in  part  from  their  own  true  work.  And  when  goes  up 
the  coronation  hymn,  all  shall  share  in  it.  Not  as  in  earthly 
triumphs,  where  the  true  victors  often  sleep  lone  and  afar, 
beyond  the  festal  blaze,  — not  so  when  moves  the  last  great 
triumph  up  heaven’s  Capitoline,  and  the  mighty  anthem  climbs 
the  crystalline  to  the  Central  Throne,  all  the  faithful,  wherever 
they  have  gone  to  their  rest, — in  China  or  India,  in  Afric  sands 
or  the  deeps  of  ocean,  or  in  Christian  Europe  or  America,  under 
the  shadows  of  the  old  church-yard, — all  shall  bear  a part  in  the 


24 


universal  refrain  — " Alleluia,  for  the  Lord  God  omnipotent 
reigneth.” 

" Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his 
own  blood,  and  hath  made  us  kings  and  priests  unto  God  and 
his  Father,  to  him  be  glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever.” 


■ 


